


How to Bake a Cake in 10 Steps

by AceQueenKing



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Baking, F/M, Flashbacks, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 14:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12038166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: Step 1:Gather your ingredients. Slip into your husband's shop and nick some of his supplies; grin as he presses a kiss into your face, getting flour in your hair. Remember a time when you would have killed for that flour, would have killed for anything to eat, and have your smile falter a second. Regain it when he traces your nose with a bit of flour, then kisses it. Smile as you watch your child "help" knead the dough. Go back to the kitchen.





	How to Bake a Cake in 10 Steps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fluffybun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffybun/gifts).



> Originally written for Chocolate Box 2017. Somehow, I forgot to post this until I was cleaning out my dropbox! Hopefully, you will enjoy a (very) late gift!

**Step 1:** Gather your ingredients. Slip into your husband's shop and nick some of his supplies; grin as he presses a kiss into your face, getting flour in your hair. Remember a time when you would have killed for that flour, would have killed for anything to eat, and have your smile falter a second. Regain it when he traces your nose with a bit of flour, then kisses it. Smile as you watch your child "help" knead dough. Go back to the kitchen.

 **Step 2:** Preheat the oven. Remember how hot Peeta's forehead was when you found him in your first games. Feel your heart stop, then shake it off. Butter a pan and remember, distantly, that your sister loved pound cake.

 **Step 3:** Cream the butter and sugar. Think of your mother's hands at work in the kitchen as you blend the ingredients; remember how often your stomach went hungry. Feel nauseous. Channel your energy into beating the butter and sugar into a rich, thick cream.

 **Step 4:** Add the eggs. Hear the front door open and tense; feel your heartbeat beat frantically for a second before you remember that you're safe. Feel your husband's sturdy arms wrap around your own as he asks how it's going; feel the warmth of his grin as you tell him you're making a pound cake. Feel his fingers linger on yours as he hands you the vanilla. Pour in a bit more than is perhaps necessary, then give it back to him.

 **Step 5:** Have your husband give you the flour. Pour it exactly into the cup; smile as your husband insists you have a baker's knack for measurements. Don't tell him that you're too used to having to make the first attempt count because supplies were so scarce.

 **Step 6:** Pour the batter into the pan. Smile as Peeta runs his finger along the edge and tastes the runoff. Flush with pride as he pronounces it as good as his mother's. Wish, not the first time, that she was here with you and not in the valley of the dead below.

 **Step 7:** Feel the comforting warmth of your husband vanish as you press the pan into the oven. Feel a soft flutter as he promises to come back later. Watch him grip his hand on the door a bit too long, and know he's suffering a flashback. Wait until he blinks, then take his hand and walk back with him to the shop. Stay until he comes back to you.

 **Step 8:** Cross back to your modest homestead. Pull out your cake. Feed your daughter a slice and marvel at how bright her eyes are; the blue color is the same as her father's eyes, but these eyes are still shining, have never known her father's pain. Smile as she reaches up to hug you. Press kisses to her head and hold her tight, remembering all that you and Peeta have lost, but also what you have gained.

 **Step 9:** Surprise your husband with a slice of cake as he closes up the shop. Laugh when he asks what the occasion is. Laugh again when he calls himself the luckiest man, even if you both know it isn't true. It's true enough.

 **Step 10:** Have a bit yourself as you come home again; the vanilla tastes sweet on your tongue. Think of the taste as it clings to your mouth, as you put your daughter to bed, as you climb into your exhausted husband's arms. When he asks you what's wrong, blurt out that you want another baby, and listen to his stunned silence as you realize it's true. He presses a kiss to you, thankful, and you taste the sweet vanilla scent on your tongue as his weight shifts over you, and you close your eyes and remember that you have survived, that one day, your children, too, will learn to hold sweetness on their tongue. It is not perfection, but it is enough.


End file.
